BATON ROUGE — Sophomore standout Beck Troutman has been named the Southeastern Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week after finishing in a tie for fourth place at the second-annual Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate, it was announced by the league office Thursday.
Troutman becomes the first Tiger golfer to be named SEC Men’s Golfer of the Week since All-SEC performer Heath West claimed the honor for the second time in his career on April 8, 2004.
“I’ve been working hard to improve really all aspects of my game this spring, and it feels good to finally play well like I did earlier this week,” Troutman said. “I didn’t play very well in the two tournaments before the Hootie, but I just tried to stay patient with myself and what I was doing on the golf course and it paid off for me.
“This definitely gives me a lot of confidence as we play in our last regular season tournament this weekend and head into the postseason later on. It gives me confidence to know I can play well against great players.”
The Fernwood, Miss., native led LSU to a sixth-place finish in the 15-team field by following his opening round 3-over 74 with under par rounds of 2-under 69 and 1-under 70 for a three-round total of even-par 213. The Tigers earned victories against five teams ranked in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Top 30.
Troutman leads the team with three top-five finishes on the season as he also finished in a tie for fourth place in two tournaments during the fall season. He defeated 12 golfers currently ranked in the Golfweek/Sagarin Top 100, including North Carolina’s Martin Ureta (18), N.C. State’s Stephen Lewton (20), Clemson’s Brian Duncan (21) and South Carolina’s Eirik Johansen (26).
The Tigers have one tournament remaining before the 2006 SEC Men’s Golf Championships in Sea Island, Ga., when they travel to Augusta, Ga., to compete in the Administaf Augusta State Invitational on Saturday.